Really, Joey? I'm too clever for football, says Barton as he prepares for league bow after getting 12 match ban

Joey Barton believes believes he has a higher calling in life after claiming he is 'too intelligent to be a footballer'.

The QPR midfielder, who is currently on loan at Marseille after being thrown out of Loftus Road in disgrace, regularly uses Twitter to quote famous philosophers and musicians.

Brainy: QPR's outcast loanee Joey Barton believes he is too clever to be a footballer

The 30-year-old has a chequered history
both on and off the field, something he continues to claim is behind him
despite his last act in English football - a red card at Manchester
City and subsequent attack on two players - earning him an 12-game ban.

However, speaking in France, Barton
said: 'Perhaps I shouldn't say it, but I'm maybe a little too
intelligent to be a footballer.'

The claims in a French newspaper attracted derision from former Arsenal and Manchester United player Mikael Silvestre.

On Twitter, he wrote: 'The uneducated Joey Barton is fascinating for the degree of his stupidity, his ego and his megalomania!'

The former Newcastle and City man also revealed his move to Loftus Road was motivated by money.

'When I went to QPR it was a choice dictated by money,' he told the Sunday People.

'I didn't like what I had done, and I swore I'd never do that again.

'It was the first time in my life that I had taken a decision for money. I did it because my partner was due to give birth - but I did not feel good about it.

Poised: Barton is likely to make his debut against Lille this evening

'The more money you have, the more problems you have.

'When I was in prison I got €8.60 (£7) a week and that [was] simpler - you'd use it to buy food and that was it.'

Barton is eligible to play in his first league game for the French side this evening.

The Englishman has only played in Europe for Marseille, but is set for a league berth when Lille visit on Sunday evening.